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Executed by performing a 'Shoryuken' motion (or in early Street Fighter II games, a half-circle up-forward motion) and pressing kick, Sagat jumps forward and rams into the opponent with his knee, hitting twice at close range.

The EX Special version introduced in the Street Fighter IV games has virtually no startup time, hits two times at its apex (allowing the full move to score up to three hits) and recovers faster.

It can be used as an anti-air, combo ender or as a far punish. In Street Fighter IV, it has armor breaking properties and is projectile-invincible on startup; it can also be cancelled into Tiger Genocide for a powerful combo on a stunned or crumpling opponent. However, if the opponent evades or blocks the move, Sagat will be left wide open for counterattack (especially since smaller characters can duck underneath it if spaced from Sagat properly).

Despite Sagat himself having no use for this, the original motion of the move proved in other fighting games to be a command bypass/exploit, especially for moves that could be done in midair; by performing the midair move's command (especially if it's a circle motion of any sort) in the style of the Tiger Knee, the user would use their attack rather close to the ground for more variety of usages, thus through this, the term "Tiger Knee'd" (abbv. as "TK'd") is often a term coined to "TK" a midair move in order to use it as close to the ground as possible. However, this tactic will not often work on moves with height restrictions.

Characters in the Street Fighter series themselves can make use of TK'ing, such as Cammy with her Cannon Strike (only in SFIV where it does not have height restriction).

Keeping with Sagat's tiger motif, the move's motion is possibly akin to a tiger's pounce.